(LINTON) - After 24 years as an employee at Linton Glass Company, Jim Dale is excited, and nervous, to call the business his own.

Sabrina Westfall, of the Greene County Daily World reports, Dale and his wife, Rita, officially opened the West Vincennes Street business as co-owners July 24th.

"She is a bigger stockholder than I am," Dale added with a laugh.

Dale is already familiar with the running of the business, considering he worked at Linton Glass under Rich Sollars for 14 years, then spent another 10 years working for previous owner Larry Rodgers.

When Sollars decided he wanted to sell the business Dale said he considered purchasing the business, but did not have the means.

When the chance arose a second time Dale decided it was time.

"Larry was wanting to retire, and he talked about wanting to find someone to sell it to and I expressed interest. We talked about it, and if he couldn't find someone to sell it to he was going to close the place," Dale explained.

He was quick to realize he did not want that to happen.

"Last year he said he couldn't seem to find anyone to buy it. We may have to close, but I said I was still interested. At first the price was too high, and it took a year of figuring, but we worked it out," the new business owner said.

Dale's first response to his feelings about being a business owner were nervousness.
"I worked here all this time, but it's different know that we are the owners," he explained. "I'm confident everything will be fine."

As the doors opened under the new owners, Dale said they still work in "anything and everything glass."